Second Opinion Program

UW Health's Heart and Vascular Care Second Opinion Program is designed to help patients find appropriate medical or surgical therapy for their unique situations.

Patients can set up appointments with expert health care personnel within 48 hours of initial contact with the Second Opinion Program.

The Second Opinion Program is especially helpful for complex surgical cases or for those who have been told their condition is inoperable or not treatable with medical therapies.

A Range of Treatment Options for Complex Cases

Most heart and vascular programs specialize in certain surgical or medical procedures, and treat only patients who need those procedures. Second Opinion is based on a broader philosophy. Our objective is to give the patient a range of treatment options and determine which is the best therapy for that particular patient.

The only way to do this is by having a breadth of medical and surgical options available, and that is where academic medical institutions like UW Health excel.

With its large physician staff and resources, UW Health offers virtually every type of heart and vascular procedure available, a comprehensive program few others can match.

Getting a Second Opinion

Patients can contact the Second Opinion program by calling (608) 263-7092 or (800) 438-3102 (for patients outside of Madison), or you can submit your contact information online by filling out the Heart and Vascular Second Opinion Request Form.

A member of the UW Health Heart and Vascular Care team will conduct an initial, informal interview. An appointment is then made within 48 hours. The Heart and Vascular Care team member also works with the patient to obtain the release of any necessary medical records, X-ray films or MRI results the physician would need to render the second opinion.